


Antlers

by Krethes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Animagus, Boys Being Boys, Did You Know Deer Bark?, Friendship, Hogwarts Fifth Year, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Not Toxic, Pre-Relationship, Prongs Knows Nothing About Deer, peter is their friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:29:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29849163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krethes/pseuds/Krethes
Summary: "He’d just allowed himself (or so he would insist) to be thrown by his scruff over Moony’s shoulder when a horrible barking noise went up from a few meters off, following by the panicked squeaking of a rat who was no longer having a good time."OR: James knows nothing about deer anatomy and this is way lighter than the snippet makes it sound!
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	Antlers

**Author's Note:**

> Deer bark. It's terrifying if you aren't expecting it and still startling when you are. This is just a silly fic birthed from the idea that Animagus animals still follow seasonal changes.

One of the best things about being a dog, Sirius reckoned, and there were A Lot, was that you didn’t really  _ notice _ when it was freezing outside. He could go from shaking and shivering just within the treeline of the Forbidden Forest in his full winter kit to standing easy-as-you-please wearing nothing but the fur on his back. ‘ _ Should spend every winter as a dog, _ ’ he mused as he padded his way through the thicket to join Prongs and Wormtail.

Wormtail was in his usual spot, high and observant from the tines on Prongs’s head. They both greeted him with a squeak and a snort, respectively, and he barked softly back, but his tail wagged madly behind him. This was still new for them, only their third time doing this with Moony and, as terrifying as it should be to run amok with a werewolf, it was actually fucking  _ amazing _ . It was the most fun Sirius had ever had.

He wished he could be  _ inside _ the Shack to watch Moony turn, but Moony had been Very Clear about not wanting any of them within twenty feet of the Shack when he transformed. While “twenty feet” was probably just a random number thrown about in the heat of the moment, Sirius had taken it to heart and waited, with steaming breath on a frozen ground, twenty feet away. 

They  _ all _ heard Moony’s anguish, the screams as their friend’s body broke down and mangled itself into something entirely different, and Sirius’s heart throbbed painfully in his chest. It never seemed enough, to be able to do  _ this _ for Remus, but not take away the real pain. A few terrible minutes later, the wolf howled and any human thoughts Sirius had were swept away with the force of his own answering howl and excited barks.

He kicked up his back legs and took off at a sprint as the form of the werewolf appeared from the shadows. The wolf greeted him with a still-suspicious sniffing, stiffening of the legs and tail, and warning growl, but soon they were rattling through the trees at a break-neck speed. Sirius heard rhythmic hoofbeats and the squeakity-squeak of an excited rat behind him.

They ran through low-hanging branches and weaved between thick, gnarled trees, fur catching in brambles and brush but it was exhilarating, this chase after… nothing, really. The wolf just liked to run and run and _run_ and Sirius was happy to oblige. He lept over a fallen log, maybe stumbled a little and ate a little dead leaf matter under the snow (no big deal), and bumped his shoulder against the wolf’s in a playful shove.

They engaged in a mostly-friendly wrestling match on the forest floor, all teeth in protective thick fur, red tongues, and ferocious-but-not-deadly growls. He’d just allowed himself (or so he would insist) to be thrown by his scruff over Moony’s shoulder when a horrible  _ barking _ noise went up from a few meters off, following by the panicked squeaking of a rat who was no longer having a good time. 

His ears pricked and he looked, wild-eyed and frantic, around him. Moony was definitely still there, large head tilted and golden eyes clearly asking why their fun had stopped, but Prongs and Wormtail were missing. The bark again, sharp and loud, and Prongs thundered into their clearing only… 

‘My antlers!!!’ he expressed in the way all animals speak to each other. Sure enough, where once had sat decent two-point prongs was just a bare head. His large brown eyes were wide and he paced, pawing the earth and looking around desperately. 

‘Wormtail?’ Sirius asked, tilting his head.

Prongs barked, spun on his back hooves, and took off again, Sirius hot on his heels. He dropped his nose to the ground and snuffled, searching for the Rat-Smell-that-Was-Not-a-Rat. He searched for what felt like hours, combing every inch of the frozen terrain looking for a small gray rodent that _clearly_ did not want to be found. He kept one watchful eye on Moony, who was eying Prongs up like maybe he wasn’t so much of a  _ threat _ anymore, circling him cagily while watching Padfoot watch him. 

Prongs just shifted his weight back and forth, back and forth, the occasional ‘Oh no my antlers…’ spilling from him in clear distress. 

Moony suddenly took off like a rocket and Sirius barked a curse and gave chase. ‘Find Wormtail!’ he whined at Prongs from over his shoulder. He  _ had _ to stay with Moony, had to make sure he was safe.

Moony skidded to a stop at one of the pine trees with the low branches and whined, rising up on his hind legs to paw at the tree. He barked once, growled, and smacked his great paws on the trunk as he tried to jump up into the higher branches. The wolf turned on Sirius and growled at him as if to say ‘Aren’t you going to help me?’ and then Sirius heard it -- the pounding of a tiny, overactive heart, the terrifying squeaking and gasping of a small animal high in the trees.

He barked four times, their agreed-upon number should anything terrible happen, and he saw moonlight glint off of two beady eyes as Wormtail poked his head out from behind a pinecone. An excited yelping bark came from his side and Moony all but vanished into the shadows. Wormtail took the moment of safety to take a daredevil leap from his branch to land squarely between Sirius’s shoulders. He wrapped his little paws in his fur and signaled he was good to go.

Sirius gave chase again to the werewolf and nearly ran headlong into the prancing beast who had returned with, _‘Oh Merlin…’_ Prongs’s antlers… in his mouth.

*~*~*~

“In my  _ mouth _ ?” Remus asked in horror, starting to gag, as they retold this story to him in the safety of their dorm room.

Sirius was crippled with laughter, tears in his eyes, as he rolled on his bed, clenching his stomach. James did  _ not _ apparently think this was so funny and launched himself at him to put him in a headlock.

Remus looked wide-eyed at Peter. “ _ His antlers _ ?” he repeated, somehow both flushed and pale at the same time.

Peter nodded sagely. “Yeah, apparently uh… stags lose their antlers every winter? It’s a normal thing.”

James’s head shot up and he glared at Peter, mortified. “Normal?!” His voice cracked. “It was TERRIFYING. I thought I was  _ dying _ . When… when do I get them  _ back _ ?” He removed his hands from Sirius’s throat and patted his now-actually-quite-flat hair longingly.

“Uh…” Peter opened his notebook again, scanning over hastily-scrawled snippets. He pursed his lips in a failed attempt to keep in the snorting laughter that escaped. “Uh… three… three months?”

James wailed and threw himself off of Sirius’s bed in a fit of dramatics. He laid there on the carpet with his hands buried in his hair. “My beautiful, regal, antlers… You’ll…” he swallowed, as if about to say something Very Brave. “You’ll have to call me something else…I won’t have any  _ prongs _ …” He bit down on the knuckle of the fist he suddenly shoved in his mouth.

Remus, who sat there aching and tired, rolled his eyes at the drama of it all. “Okay… Bambi.”

Sirius’s face lit up like a Christmas tree at the nickname and his laughter resumed anew. In a fit of glee, he turned into Padfoot and grabbed the antlers from Remus’s nightstand (a place of Honor). Two-point spikes in his open maw, he flopped on top of James’s chest, thudding his tail against his face.

“Good boy, Padfoot,” Remus teased, and Sirius was Very Concerned with how  _ happy _ that tone of voice made him. His heart warmed and his tail wagged even harder, smacking James over and over again with the tail.

Remus carefully slid from his bed and came over to scratch Sirius-as-Padfoot behind the ears and  _ ohhh _ that was some kind of wonderful! He didn't even notice James thumping him in the chest to get off of him.

Being a dog was actually kind of great.


End file.
